SXSW: IPhone Influx Pushes AT&T to the Limit [Updated]

Share

SXSW: IPhone Influx Pushes AT&T to the Limit [Updated]

Kenny Meyers, right, an iPhone user from Seattle, is not thrilled with AT&T's network performance in Austin during South by Southwest. His co-worker Nick Finck says AT&T "should have figured the scalability" for the crush of iPhone users at SXSW.Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.comAUSTIN, Texas — AT&T's 3G coverage map for Austin may look rock solid, but turns out there wasn't enough connectivity goodness to sate the hordes of iPhone-wielding geeks who descended on this artsy Texas town for the South by Southwest conference this weekend. Was the Verizon and Sprint crowd, usually consigned to the kid's table at these hip mob scenes, having the last laugh?

Attendees with their beloved iPhone 3G handsets hoping to hook up with friends, find the next party or access Twitter to announce their location are encountering dropped calls, unavailable service or molasses-slow web access from the mobile service provider.

Tens of thousands of conference-goers in town for the interactive and film segments of the annual festival have put a noticeable strain on both AT&T's 3G and Edge networks.

"It works like ass," said Kenny Meyers, a 25-year-old web developer from Seattle who works for Blue Flavor. "That's because everyone and their mother has [an iPhone] now."

Tech-centered events flooded with geeks, like South by Southwest Interactive taking place here this weekend, put a heavy load on communication infrastructures in general. But AT&T's shortcoming in downtown Austin presents a particularly painful problem for iPhone users, who are locked in to their multiyear contracts with the carrier, which has an exclusive deal with Apple for the popular gadget.

Scott Beale, geek blogger and founder of San Francisco web hosting company Laughing Squid, who's visiting Austin for the conference, was so fed up with the lousy service that he left the hopping Digg.com party Saturday night to find an area where he could make calls and send tweets.

"I literally said, 'I'm going to leave this party and walk until I get coverage,'" he said.

Much as in years past, Twitter has been extremely popular amongSXSWers. This year, Twitter is mature enough that nearly everyone at the conference is using the service, and it has proved to be an invaluable tool for coordinating social activities. Also making its debut this week at SXSW is the new location-aware iPhone appFoursquare, which announces a user's location and encourages friends to find them.

All that wonderful tech is moot when your iPhone can't get a signal. "We have all these great tools at our disposal, but we can't use them," Beale said.

Update: Mark Siegel, a spokesman for AT&T's wireless business, told Wired.com on Sunday that the carrier is "very sorry" if anyone experienced any difficulty using its service at SXSW, and said the company is seeking a solution.

"Wireless service depends on a number of issues," Siegel said, "including proximity to cellular sites, the number of people contending for resources in a given area, the strength of the signal in the area and a number of other factors."

Seigel said AT&T and other providers often bring in cell-sites on wheels, or COWs, to shore up local service around major events like the Super Bowl and the presidential inauguration. He said AT&T is definitely going to look into improving the service around SXSW in the future, but could not say if the service would be beefed up before this year's conference is over.

Anecdotal reports on the streets of Austin and from frustrated Twitter users indicate the problem is widespread for iPhone users. People using devices on other wireless networks reported that their service was good during SXSW.

Ironically, Wi-Fi connectivity, which is usually scarce or unusably slow at big conferences like SXSW, has been close to perfect at theAustin Convention Center, the show's primary venue.

"The SXSW wireless is working well," said Blue Flavor's Meyers, who noted that AT&T's service works well after the day's parties slow down.

"At 3 in the morning, it works fine," he said.

Ben Bacon says his iPhone has been on "E," for Edge, ever since he got to SXSW.Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.comBen Bacon, marketing manager for Level 3 Communications, said he's been kicked down to AT&T's slower Edge network rather than the 3G service.

"Ever since I landed in Austin, it says 'E' [for Edge],'" he said of his degraded service.

"I wish it was a little faster," said Bacon, 32, who lives in Broomfield, Colorado. "I wish it was 4 or 5G."

Additional reporting by Lewis Wallace. This story has been updated to include comment from AT&T.